Portable derailer



Dec. 5, 1933. xo 1,938,486

PORTABLE DERAILER Filed March 16, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet l r 1 v I, .lffvki INVENTOR A TTORNE VJ Dec. 5, 1933. l. K. DIXON PORTABLE DERAILER Filed March 16, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTORNEXJ' Dec. 5, 1933. K. DIXON PORTABLE DERAILER Filed March 16, 1933 I5 Sheets-Sheet 3 l I r I n INVENTOR- 54 [76/454 KD/XO/V- BY v ATTORN EYS Patented Dec. 5, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

7 Claims.

My invention relates to a portable derailer. An object of the invention is to provide a derailer that may be easily and quickly applied to and firmly held on a rail and that is of simple and sturdy construction.

The various features of the invention are 11- lust-rated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan view of a derailer embodying a preferred form of the invention.

Figs. 2 and 3 are side elevations from opposite sides of the rail showing the derailer as secured on the rail and showing the positions of the car wheels in passing over the derailer.

Fig. 4 is an end view.

Fig. 5 is a vertical cross section of the derailer.

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view of a locking means for the derailer, and

Figs. '7 and 8 are perspective views of rail clamping elements of the derailer.

In my invention, a body 10 of the derailer is provided with a seating face or faces to rest on and against the top and inner face of a rail 11. The upper face 12 of the body 10 starts at the front end 13 at the level of the top of the rail and then rises to a summit at a point 14 so that as the car wheel 15 reaches and passes over the front part of the derailer it is lifted above the top surface of the track. At the point 14 the derailer is extended inwardly of the rail to form a flange track 16. As the wheel is raised to the maximum by the surface 12, the flange 17 of the wheel is received in the flange track 16. From the summit 14 the lifting surface 12 drops and the flange track 16 veers to the outer side of the rail as shown in Fig. l, throwing the wheel over and beyond the rail. The body 10 is secured to the rail by a pair of diverging legs, an inner leg 18 extending downwardly from the flange track 16 and an outer leg 19 extending downwardly and outwardly from the outer face of the body 10. The legs 18 and 19 are clamped to theinner and outer flanges 20 and 21 of the rail 11 by means of inner and outer clamping or gripping elements 22 and 23 respectively. The clamping elements 22 and 23 are secured to the legs 18 and 19 by means of a bolt or other securing means 24 passing through vertical slots 25 and 26 in the legs 18 and 19 respectively. The clamping element 22 is provided with a face 2'7 that rests against the outer surface of the leg 18 and is provided with a horizontal extending tongue 28 the lower face of which is inclined to fit the upper surface of the rail flange 20.

The outer gripping element 23 is provided with a downwardly extending body or tail 29 and with a horizontal tongue 30, the angle of the downwardly depending part or tail portion 29 being so related to the angle of the lower face of the tongue 30 that contact is made with the outer face of the leg 19 below the bolt 24 so that as the bolt is tightened, it tends to tilt the gripping element 23 about the lower end of the tail part 29 inwardly to bring the tongue 30 downwardly against the inclined upper face of the rail flange 21 This draws the gripping element 22 and leg 18 toward the rail, causing the seating face of the body 10 to seat tightly against the upper and inner faces of the rail 11 as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. Owing to the inclination of the legs 18 and 19, the drawing together of the gripping elements 22 and 23 serves to draw the bolt 24 upwardly tightly against the lower surface of the rail flanges. In this way the derailer is tightly gripped between the upper and lower surfaces of the rail and is also held securely against the inner face of the rail head and against the upper outer edges of the rail flanges 10 and 11. In this way a rigid support for the car wheel in passing over the derailer is provided, the weight of the wheels being taken directly on the upper face of the rail head until shifted across the rail to the outer side thereof.

The slots 25 and 26 of the legs 18 and 19 permit the bolt 24 to be positioned at different heights so that the derailer is readily fitted to different sizes of rails and to rails of different heighths. It will be understood that the gripping elements 22 and 23 provide effective gripping means for any size rail to which the derailer may be applied inasmuch as they are moved apart proportionally with the spreading of the legs 18 and 19. One or both of the legs 18 and 19 may be widened as shown at 31 in 2 so as to abut against a tie 32 and thus be kept from sliding lengthwise 9 of the rail. The bolt 24 may be of any suitable form. Preferably a nut 33 of the type shown in Figs. 2, 5 and 6, is provided, this nut having a number of circumferential spaced recesses 34 in which the hasp 35 of a padlock 36 may be received when locked in position through an opening 37 in an overlying projection 38 of the gripping element 2 What I claim 15- l. A derailer comprising a body having a seating surface to rest on the top of a rail and a wheel guiding surface rising from one side of said seating surface and a pair of legs, one at each side of said seating surface, a bolt extending through said legs transversely of and spaced below said seating surface, and a pair of clamping wedges, one for each of said legs, said clamp ing wedges each having a downwardly extending part bearing against the outer surface of its respective leg and engaged on its outer face by a head or nut of said bolt, and a horizontal part extending inwardly past its respective leg and having its lower face diverging upwardly from said bolt whereby the base flanges of a rail may be clamped and wedged between said horizontal parts and said bolt as the nut is tightened on said bolt.

2. A derailer comprising a body having a seating surface to rest on the top of a rail and a wheel guiding surface rising from oneside of said seating surface and a pair of legs, one at each side of said seating surface, a bolt extending through said legs transversely of and spaced below said seating surface, and a pair of clamping wedges, one for each of said legs, said clamping wedges each having a downwardly extending part bearing against the outer surface of its respective leg and engaged on its outer face by a head or nut of said bolt, a horizontal part extending inwardly past its respective leg and having its lower face diverging upwardly from said bolt whereby the base flanges of a rail may be clamped and wedgedbetween said horizontal parts and said bolt as the nut is tightened on said bolt, and means to lock the nut of said bolt to one of said wedge members.

3. A derailer member having legs diverging downwardly on opposite sides of the rail space, a pair of rail gripping elements each having a horizontally extending part to overlie the outer edges of rail flanges and a downwardly extending part to engage the outer surface of its respective leg, means extending between said gripping ele ments and engaging them to draw them toward each other, the inner face of one of said gripping elements diverging upwardly from the outer surface of its respective leg from below the point of engagement of said drawing means to cause its horizontal part to rock downwardly to grip a rail flange.

4. A derailer member having legs diverging downwardly on opposite sides of the rail space, a pair of rail gripping elements each having a horizontally extending part to overlie the outer edges of rail flanges and a downwardly extending part to engage the outer surface of its respective leg, means extending between said gripping elements and engaging them to draw them toward each other, the inner face of one of said gripping elements diverging upwardly from the outer surface of its respective leg from below the point of engagement of said drawing means to cause its horizontal part to rock downwardly to grip a rail flange, the opposite rail gripping element fitting its respective leg.

5. A derailer member having legs diverging downwardly on opposite sides of the rail space, a pair of rail gripping elements each having a horizontally extending part to overlie the outer edges of rail flanges and a downwardly extending part to engage the outer surface of its respective leg, means extending between said gripping elements and engaging them to draw them toward each other, the inner face of one of said gripping elements diverging upwardly from the outer surface of its respective leg from below the point of engagement of said drawing means to cause its horizontal part to rock downwardly to grip a rail flange, said gripping and drawing m ans being vertically slidable on said legs until stopped by contact with the base of a rail.

6. A derailer member having legs diverging downwardly on opposite sides of the rail space, said legs having vertical bolt receiving slots, gripping elements having depending parts engaging the outer surfaces of said legs and tongues extending through said slots to contact the upper, outer, surfaces of the rail flanges, and a bolt extending transversely below the rail through said slots and said gripping elements, one of said gripping elements contacting its respective leg only below said bolt to permit it to rock its tongue downwardly as said bolt is tightened.

7. A derailer having a body fitting and seating on the inner and top surface of the head of a rail and having a wheel track extending upwardly from the inner face of the rail to above the rail and a pair of vertically slotted legs diverging downwardly on opposite sides of the rail, a gripping element fitting the outer face of the inner leg and having a tongue extending through the slot of said leg to engage the upper face of the inner flange of the rail, a gripping element contacting the outer face of the outer leg and spaced therefrom above the contact to permit it to rock on said contact toward said leg and having a tongue extending through the leg slot to engage the upper surface of the outer rail flan e, and a bolt passing through said slots below the rail to draw said gripping elements together.

ISRAEL K. DIXON. 

